1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pet dishes, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved pet dish designed to prevent ants and other crawling insects from contaminating the food and water supply of a pet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of pet dishes are known in the prior art. A typical example of an insect inhibiting pet dish is to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,711, which issued to J. Michael on Feb. 15, 1977. This patent discloses a telescoping variable height pet dish having a central food bowl with a pet operable lid and a annular moat type water trough secured around the central bowl. This construction allows access by the pet to the fluid within the insect inhibiting moat. The animal may thus drain the moat, destroying the insect barrier. U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,080, which issued to C. Haney on Dec. 5, 1978, discloses an insect proof animal dish which includes a food dish supported on a pillar which rises out of the water in the water dish. This patent utilizes the animal's water supply to form the insect inhibiting moat and thus does not prevent insects from contaminating the water dish. U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,905, which issued to R. Carpenter on Nov. 9, 1982, discloses a moated pet feeder which combines a food bowl and a water bowl in side by side relation. The food bowl is surrounded by a moat cavity which fills with water flowing through a substantially horizontal passage connecting the moat cavity with the water bowl to form a moat which inhibits ants and other crawling insects. This construction likewise does not separate the potentially contaminated insect inhibiting moat from the animal's water supply. U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,772, which issued to R. Salinas on Aug. 23, 1983, discloses an animal feeder which includes a bowl which is filled with water in use. An arm extends upwardly from the bowl and has a support for an animal's food dish. This construction likewise does not protect the water supply from crawling insects. U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,228, which issued to J. Scott on Mar. 19, 1985, discloses a dog feeder for protecting and preserving food or fresh water to be made available upon self-initiated action of the dog. An open tray surrounds a vessel in the form of a moat. The moat is not protected from access by the pet.
While the above mentioned devices are suited for their intended usage, none of these devices discloses a pet dish utilizing three spaced receptacles and including an inaccessible base receptacle forming a moat which prevents ants and other crawling insects from accessing not only an upper food receptacle but also an intermediate water receptacle. Inasmuch as the art is relatively crowded with respect to these various types of pet dishes, it can be appreciated that there is a continuing need for and interest in improvements to such pet dishes, and in this respect, the present invention addresses this need and interest.